HÀ NỘI — Some 3,000 businesses will participate in Online Friday 2017, the year’s largest e-commerce event scheduled for today.

The event, organised annually by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, will be on a bigger scale than last year in terms of participants and products. The ministry said the event will feature hundreds of thousands of promotional items with total expected sales of more than VNĐ1 trillion (US$44 million).

Customers will have an opportunity to experience the offline model at the BigOFF event planned for Friday at the Vincom Mall on Nguyễn Chí Thanh Street in Hà Nội.

This year, people can buy promotional products and services through direct sales and discount vouchers. Customers can search for products on the website www.store.onlinefriday.vn,and also download promotion codes from there.

Some 999 items have obtained a guarantee label to ensure quality and prices in comparison with those on the market.

Well-known brands such as Nguyễn Kim, MediaMart, Sunhouse and Adayroi, as well as Giovanni, Sendo and Leflair Việt Nam are expected to participate in the event.

Last year, the total sales by 30 large companies at Online Friday 2016, held on December 2, reached VNĐ664 billion ($28 million), tripling the sales of the previous year.

Over 3,000 companies offered discounts on 360,000 products and services.

Over 50,000 shoppers joined the activities hosted by 20 firms at the BigOff event. — VNS